Monique juratovac

Monique wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after she finished high school.  In fact, she left school during her 10th grade year because she was being severely bullied.  Although this was a difficult decision for her to make, it started her on a path that would ultimately lead her to building her very own successful masonry business, MJ Bricklaying. 

When she left school, she started out in a hairdressing apprenticeship.  Her older sister had gone that route and she found it a bit interesting herself.  After completing the three-year program, she found that she just wasn’t happy with where she was at in life.  She continued with hairdressing and decided to get her certification in make up as well.  This still didn’t seem like it was the right path for her, so she thought, why not try out a different trade.  She started looking into other pre-apprenticeship programs through TAFE and bricklaying caught her eye.  She gave it a try and absolutely loved it!  She continued to work every Monday for free to build her strength and skills which she was finishing up at the salon.  Once her pre-apprenticeship program ended, she went straight into an apprenticeship as a bricklayer. 

Monique says that there have been plenty of times when she has felt out of place in the industry because she is a woman.  She has had to deal with negative comments which have led her to doubt herself and her abilities.  When she first started out, she always felt like she wasn’t strong enough or fit enough to last.  After about a year of just working on building strength, she was able to put those doubts behind her.  But as limiting beliefs tend to creep up on us when we least expect it, Monique says that she then started doubting her ability to remember the all-around job.  She says that in bricklaying you are always learning, and she says that to this day she continues to learn something new every day, but she has found that eventually everything gets built into memory and she no longer doubts herself the way she used to.  She also says that the biggest difference now compared to three years ago when she started is that she has complete confidence in her skills, and she no longer lets people, and their negative comments get to her the way she used to. 

If she could go back and give her younger self some advice, Monique says that there isn’t too much that she would change.  She feels that her experiences, the good and the not so good, have shaped her into who she is today.  She does say that she wishes her high school years played out differently and she would have hung out with a different group of friends because no one deserves the long-term effect and self-confidence issues that stem from bullying.   

Monique says that her journey to find her place in the workforce has not been easy but having the support of her family has helped her push herself to succeed and overcome any obstacle that she is faced with.  She has had friends who didn’t think she could do it and says that if it wasn’t for her family telling her that she had nothing to lose and everything to gain, she wouldn’t be where she is today.  She wants to encourage women to follow their passion, whatever it may be because you have so much more to gain than you have to lose and if you never try then you never know where you may end up!